“Of course I submit my resignation. » On Tuesday, November 7th, in Lisbon, at the Palacete de Sao Bento, the official residence of the Portuguese Prime Minister, the socialist Antonio Costa announced bluntly and, despite his best efforts to appear calm, his hands slightly shaking, that he was leaving power after eight years the head of government will leave. Just hours earlier, the same building had been the subject of searches. “The dignity of the office of Prime Minister is not compatible with any suspicion of his integrity, his good behavior and certainly not with the suspicion of criminal activity,” said the 62-year-old former mayor of Lisbon and trained lawyer, justifying that he had “a clear conscience.” .
In the morning, the judiciary, which has been investigating alleged irregularities in the awarding of two lithium mining concessions in the northeast of the country and a green hydrogen production site in the Sines industrial port for three years, tightened the net on people belonging to the prime minister’s entourage.
His chief of staff Vitor Escaria and his friend and best man at his wedding, chief executive Diogo Lacerda Machado, who was previously responsible for the nationalization of the Portuguese airline TAP, were taken into custody. At the same time, almost forty searches were carried out in the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Infrastructure and public institutions, but also in around fifteen apartments and several law offices. Further arrests followed, including that of the mayor of Sines, the socialist Nuno Mascarenhas.
Whether Antonio Costa still had hope of withstanding this earthquake is stated in the press release published this morning The prosecutor finished showering him. The Public Prosecutor’s Office not only confirmed the charges against Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba as part of an investigation into suspicion of “embezzlement, active and passive corruption of political officials and influence peddling”; But he also revealed the launch of an “autonomous investigation” against the prime minister over his possible “intervention to declassify proceedings”. Antonio Costa therefore went to Belem Palace, where he presented his resignation to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who accepted it.
Breakthrough of the right
The latter convened political parties on Wednesday to gather their opinions and was due to convene the State Council, an advisory body that brings together representatives of the state, on Thursday. He will reveal whether he will decide to dissolve parliament and hold early elections, or whether he will decide to appoint a successor to Mr Costa within the Socialist majority.
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